Egypt Daily News – “Madeline” arrived at the Israeli port of Ashdod on Monday evening, after being intercepted by Israel at dawn while attempting to reach the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian aid and 12 activists supporting the Palestinian cause.
The ship entered the Israeli port around 8:45 p.m. local time (5:45 p.m. GMT) accompanied by two Israeli navy vessels. All passengers on board, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and other activists, are to be transferred to a detention center in preparation for their deportation from Israel, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli navy had stopped the aid ship early Monday as it headed toward Gaza and redirected it to Israel. Thunberg was among the 12 activists aboard the “Madeline,” which had set sail from Sicily a week earlier. On its way, the ship stopped on Thursday to rescue four migrants who had jumped from another vessel to avoid being detained by the Libyan coast guard.
The activists who are French, German, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish, and Dutch had departed from Italy on June 1 with the aim of “breaking the Israeli blockade” imposed on Gaza, which has been suffering a dire humanitarian crisis after twenty months of war.
After a stop in Egypt, the ship approached Gaza despite warnings from Israel, which had ordered its military to prevent it from reaching the territory.
Overnight, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the voyage, announced that the Israeli military had intercepted the vessel. The coalition wrote on Telegram: “Contact has been lost with the ship Madeline. The Israeli army has boarded the ship,” adding that Israeli forces had “kidnapped” the ship’s crew.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition condemned what it called “a clear violation of international law,” asserting that the interception took place in international waters. Israel, for its part, did not specify the location of the interception.
